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BUFFALO, NY --- Empty plants along the waterfront are a reminder of when the steel industry was booming in Buffalo. Now, part of that past is starting to come back.

A steel making company based out of Dubai is moving forward with a $102 million dollar plant employing more than a 172 workers. Negotiations have been over a year in the making by state and local officials resulting in Alita picking the Queen City over Houston.

"We closed the deal in a way we wouldn't have before," Howard Zemski REDC chairman. "We were not working strategically and we didn't have all of these tools in our tool box -- so it's the perfect example of how it's coming together for Western New York."

New York State offered the company performance based incentives including millions in tax credits.

Erie County IDA is offering a 2 million forgivable loan toward site development costs.

Tuesday night, a source told Two on Your Side that Alita would like to use the old Republic Steel site for the new facility.

The company makes steel pipes used in the oil and hydro fracking industries.

"We're going to see construction jobs right up front, we're going to see construction jobs and the money that goes around from them," Mark Polancarz Erie County Executive said. "These are not jobs that are going to be paying minimum wage, they'll be paying a nice sum."

The average worker will make more than $72,000 dollars a year. It's exciting for western New Yorkers, who are looking forward to what else is to come.

"This company came to us. We're usually traveling around the world trying to attract companies to come to Western New York," Thomas Kucharski with Buffalo Niagara Enterprises said. "This company came to us and expressed the interest that shows really good things about our region."